How Assimilation Works

California is a concentrated example of the time-honored idea that America is an immigrant nation. From its beginnings as a territory through the twentieth century, California comprised a riotous variety of ethnic groups, nationalities, and religions. The whole world, it seemed, was coming and contributing to the state’s ethnic tapestry: Mexicans, Irish, Australians, South Sea Islanders, Italians, Basques, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Armenians, Volga Germans, Filipinos, Hmong, Laotians, Punjabis, Vietnamese. And for a long time, immigration worked, because everyone was expected to assimilate, more or less, to the American paradigm.

For an example of how that assimilation took place, consider the rural San Joaquin Valley, where I grew up. Since it offered plenty of opportunities to own farmland and to find agricultural work, the valley became a place where the theory of assimilation met the practice. Assimilation didn’t mean that an immigrant had to discard his native culture or language. Indeed, most immigrants took pride in their origins, as evidenced by fraternal organizations, religious guilds, holidays, festivals, recipes, native costumes, and scores of other ways of honoring their homelands. Some, like my Italian grandmother, kept their native tongues and never became fluent in English. Some, like my wife’s Volga German grandfather, never even became citizens. Yet whatever the degree of assimilation, most accepted a fundamental truth: that whatever affection they had for their homes, for their native tongue, or for their old ways and customs, those cultures had in some significant way failed them. Thus they had made a difficult, costly choice: to become Americans. If America’s core principles—such as individual rights, freedom of speech, the rule of law, and religious tolerance—conflicted with those of the old country, then the latter had to be modified or abandoned.

The choice was hard, at times even brutal. Racism, ethnocentrism, and prejudice could make the work of becoming American notoriously difficult. But people understood that to have a nation composed of immigrants, there had to be a unifying common culture in the public sphere. Transmitting that common culture was the job of the schools. My mother’s mother came from Maschito, an Albanian village in southern Italy. Many Maschitans settled in Fresno, where every year they celebrated the feast of their ancestral village’s patron saint, Santa Elia. But I never heard a word about any of this in school. We were busy learning about George Washington and the Constitution, Valley Forge and the Gettysburg Address, the nation’s history and heroes, its virtues and ideals—and, crucially, those core American principles. It was at school that the immigrant learned American history and celebrated the leaders who had created the country, fought in its defense, and embodied its most cherished values. In short, he learned how to be what he or his parents had freely chosen to become: American.

This process has been compromised over the past 40 years as the ideology of multiculturalism has colonized schools, government, and popular culture. Today, immigrants learn to embrace a sense of entitlement and grievance and to demand that schools and government acknowledge and atone for America’s sins. School curricula have degenerated into ethnic cheerleading and feel-good symbolism. The effect is to divide, not unify, to pit group against group as each tries to out-victim the other in a zero-sum competition for political clout and slices of the public fisc.

Bruce Thornton is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, a Research Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, and a Professor of Classics and Humanities at the California State University. He is the author of nine books and numerous essays on classical culture and its influence on Western Civilization. His most recent book, Democracy's Dangers and Discontents (Hoover Institution Press), is now available for purchase.

Steve

An excellent article… California is past the point of no return…Hate of the Euro-Americans has been institutionalized in the schools (diversity is a code word for anti-White). The model is the Public Employee Unions at the top bankrupting the state by providing "services" to tens of millions of Mexican Proles at the bottom. My guess is we are getting a preview of the future of the Republic….The Radical Left should be congratulated: it's taken them decades of planning, fanatical commitment and the total corruption of the MSM.

ross1948

Appalling report, but admirably written!
Our expat conservative blog is due to post another item on the multicult nonsense in Australia this weekend, and some of your points would be usefully included therein. http://rossrightangle.wordpress.com/

geez

Yes, this process had been compromised to say the least. The process has been undermined and destroyed from within. The left works like a cancer and the only way to overcome them is to overwhelm them with truth. Bombard them with truth.

Chezwick_mac

And let's remember, like Texas, California's order of school textbooks is so large that many other states piggy-back and acquire the same books in order to save money. The result is – as goes California and Texas – so goes the nation. But as Texas Republicans attempt to mitigate the multicultural babble in THEIR textbooks and reinsert a pro-American agenda, California's Democrats are on a crusade to do just the opposite. This highlights the profound difference between the parties and their respective world-views and allegiances. NO ONE can ever convince me the two parties are the same. Republicans may have a plethora of faults, but they are far and away the lessor of two evils.

Lady_Dr

My favorite pundit, Ann Coulter says 'there are a lot of bad Republicans, but there are no good Democrats." Thought you would enjoy that one. I love Florida but if I were to ever live in another state it would be Texas.

Kristina

It cannot be argued that Democrats do not love the poor. That's why they have created so many of them!

ObamaYoMoma

One thing that wasn’t mentioned in the article is that in America’s heyday immigration period, most of the immigrants to America were more educated and more skilled relative to average Americans at the time and so readily became contributing and productive citizens. Not only that but also in those days there wasn’t a social welfare net they could fall back on. Thus, it was a sink or swim proposition for them. In other words, they had no other choice but to assimilate and integrate and to become contributing and productive citizens. Compare and contrast that to today’s Hispanic immigrants where because they are mostly illiterate and unskilled the majority of Hispanic immigrants become permanent wards of the welfare state for generations. The times have certainly changed.

In other words, we should reconfigure our immigration policy to admit only those immigrants with the education and skill sets necessary to become contributing and productive citizens immediately. I would like to also see us eliminate all automatic immigration for relatives ASAP. It should also be made into a sink or swim proposition to force assimilation, whereby until immigrants achieve full American citizenship, they would be ineligible to receive any of America’s social welfare benefits. On top of that American citizenship requirements should be beefed up and made more stringent and lengthy as well.

Finally, I would like to see America eliminate, ban, and reverse all Muhammadan immigration ASAP on the grounds that there isn’t one example in the world where the majority of Muhammadan immigrants have assimilated and integrated and then matriculated into becoming contributing and productive citizens in their respective host countries. Instead, the vast majority of Muhammadan immigrants in country after country have flat out refused to assimilate and integrate and have formed Muhammadan no-go zones ruled by Sharia instead.

Indeed, because Islam divides the world between the believers and unbelievers, Islamic society isn’t compatible with any other societies or cultures because it invariably tries to subjugate and dominate them. In fact, the very act of assimilation and integration for Muhammadans would be blasphemous, which is a capital offense under Islam.

Thus, since Muhammadans are incompatible with all other societies and cultures, Muhammadan immigration should be outlawed, banned, and reversed ASAP to avoid the inevitable unmitigated disaster that has happened in country after country. Not only that but the longer we delay facing up to this unfortunate reality, the more costlier it will be.

http://www.okcteaparty.org Dan

Judging from what we are doing now, I guess our immigration policy during World War II and the Cold War was to promote immigration of unrepentant Nazis and Communists. Oh I forgot, Repentance is now a dirty word in our permissive society.

mworthington.

NoBamaYoMoma.. Don't worry it's fast approching the end. ECONOMIC COLLAPS! THE USA IS BROKE! Once the checks stop watch the cockroaches loot, pillage and then swarm into the country side. This Article shows your were we are headed. http://homelandsecurityus.com/archives/4894 be safe and aware

. "The nasty things that you think are coming always take longer to arrive than you think they will, but once they get here, they make up for their tardiness by being worse than you thought they'd be."
-Richard Maybury

Alex Nowrasteh

During the "heyday" of American immigration are you referring to the time when the population of the US had the highest percentage of foreign born? If that is what you mean then you are wrong to conclude that immigrants had more skills than natives back then.

From 1890-1920 immigrants to the US, especially Italians and Eastern European Jews, had very low levels of human capital relative to the average American. According to FA Walker who was writing on this issue at the time, he says that the immigrants of the 1890s were far inferior and less skilled than previous immigrants and average Americans. He wanted to close off immigration to them:http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/faculty/hodgson/…

Everyone tends to have the opinion that immigration 100 years ago was great but today's immigrants are different. In 100 years, your descendants will probably think that immigrants in the early 2000s was fantastic but new waves of immigrants are worse.

ObamaYoMoma

Obviously, had immigration remained beneficial like it was for most of its history, it never would have been curtailed in the first place like it eventually was. However, it couldn’t be more obvious that FA Walker was not only very wrong, but also a Jew hating bigot of the worse kind, as there is no other group of immigrants to America that even come close to matching the productivity and contributions of the Jews, not only with respect to the USA, but also with respect to the world as well, as the only country that surpasses the USA in contributions to the world on a per capita basis is Israel.

In any event, I was talking about the history of immigration in general. In fact, it is very accurate to credit immigration and assimilation for much of America’s record of success, but like I also said, the times…they have changed.

Moreover, FA Walker was a bigot motivated by hatred of Jews and Italians, as their successful integration into American society and many contributions demonstrates and proves. I wish I could say the same thing about illiterate and unskilled Hispanics and the descendents of black slaves, but unfortunately there long-term records have proven to be very different.

With respect to mass Muhammadan immigration, all you have to do is take a good close look everywhere mass Muhammadan immigration has occurred in the world, and it is very easy to see that the vast overwhelming majority of Muhammadan immigrants flat out refuse to assimilate and integrate and form Muhammadan no-go zones ruled by Sharia as parallel societies within societies and in direct contravention to the laws of the states in which they reside because Muhammadans don’t immigrate to assimilate and integrate, but instead to eventually subjugate and dominate. In fact, it would be blasphemous for a Muhammadan to assimilate and integrate, and blasphemy is a capital offense under Islam. Hence, since Islam and Muhammadans aren’t compatible with any other societies and cultures, as Islam invariably tries to subjugate and dominate all other societies and cultures, Muhammadan immigration should be outlawed, banned, and reversed ASAP.

Alex Nowrasteh

Muslim immigration is a very small part of American immigration.

But your statement: "Moreover, FA Walker was a bigot motivated by hatred of Jews and Italians, as their successful integration into American society and many contributions demonstrates and proves."

The point of posting the Walker piece was that from his perspective in time, he thought the immigrants of that era were far inferior to previous ones and should be limited. He was clearly a racist but he made non racial objections that are similar to the objections you've raised. Based on levels of literacy, skills, and education he was right. But he was wrong, and you are also wrong, that immigrants in those skill levels don't, won't, or can't assimilate and be very successful. History proved him wrong and will prove you wrong. Indeed, it already is as the high degree of Hispanic assimilation as The Pew Hispanic Research Center's "Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Come of Age in America, Assimilation" December 2009 report shows. Cultural and liguistic assimilation is very strong and by the 3rd or 4th generation they are virtually impossible to separate from Americans whose families have been here for even longer periods of time.

"I wish I could say the same thing about illiterate and unskilled Hispanics"

As the report I cited above demonstrates and as any source out there will show, almost no immigrants to the US today are illiterate. That includes Hispanics.

The Literacy Act of 1917 was pushed by anti-immigrant activists in the early 20th century because they thought it would rapidly decrease Italian immigration because most people back then thought Italians were illiterate. Since almost all immigrants to the US at that period were literate, the literacy requirement excluded almost no one. The same is true today.

Joseph Wilder

He's got a point. All evidence backs up what he is expressing about the Muhammadan, especially in European countries. A great read is While Europe Slept. There are many parallels to the way they are setting up, and some Hispanic cultures are setting up in America as well.

"As the report I cited above demonstrates and as any source out there will show, almost no immigrants to the US today are illiterate. That includes Hispanics."

Maybe to their own language, but seems they sure can't fill any info at the ER.

ObamaYoMoma

Muslim immigration is a very small part of American immigration.

It doesn’t matter. Study Muslim immigration, Muslims don’t immigrate to assimilate and integrate but instead to eventually subjugate and dominate, and if you think that is illegitimate criticism and therefore bigoted, then by all means please point to all the countries in the world where the majority of Muhammadan immigrants actually assimilated and integrated and then matriculated into becoming productive and contributing patriotic citizens. Good luck, you’ll need it. Not to mention that the very acts of assimilating and integrating for a Muslim would be blasphemous and blasphemy is a capital offense under Islam.

The point of posting the Walker piece was that from his perspective in time, he thought the immigrants of that era were far inferior to previous ones and should be limited. He was clearly a racist but he made non racial objections that are similar to the objections you've raised. Based on levels of literacy, skills, and education he was right.

Walker made inferences based on his own personal prejudices that proved to be wrong. In other words, he was a bigot, although he tried to camouflage and hide his bigotry. However, in stark contrast to Walker, I’m not making any inferences, I’m merely restating what has already long been fully documented, as the chronic failures of both the Hispanic and Black communities to assimilate and become contributing and productive members of American society instead of permanent wards of the state are long and well established realities. Hence, your absurd allegation that I’m similarly bigoted to Walker is a product of your own mental incompetence and leftwing biases.

But he was wrong, and you are also wrong, that immigrants in those skill levels don't, won't, or can't assimilate and be very successful

Of course, Walker was wrong. He was a bigot and mentally handicapped like you. Nevertheless, the fact that most Hispanics and Blacks in America have long been permanent wards of the state for generation after generation is more than an undeniable fact since it has been documented over and over again ad nauseum, and since it is an undeniable fact, it constitutes legitimate criticism and therefore it can’t be bigoted.

History proved him wrong and will prove you wrong.

How will history prove me wrong, since history has already proven me right, as in stark contrast to Walker I’m not making inferences but rehashing what already has long been fully documented. What planet do you live on? Indeed, if you don’t believe me, then go visit the barrios in East LA, or the streets of Harlem and Watts.

Indeed, it already is as the high degree of Hispanic assimilation as The Pew Hispanic Research Center's "Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Come of Age in America, Assimilation" December 2009 report shows. Cultural and liguistic assimilation is very strong and by the 3rd or 4th generation they are virtually impossible to separate from Americans whose families have been here for even longer periods of time

Give me a break, PEW is a leftwing think tank, and despite PEW, study after study shows that for generations, not just three or four, the majority of Hispanics immigrants have chronically failed to assimilate into becoming contributing and productive citizens of the USA, since the majority of Hispanics drop out of school either to join street gangs or otherwise because they get knocked up. In fact, their chronic failure closely mirrors that of the competing Black society. However, Hispanic society also has the disadvantage of having to compete with illegal Hispanic immigrants for jobs, which are more than willing to work for slave wages.

Not only that, but many Hispanics aren’t loyal Americans either as well, as they are not only indoctrinated to believe that they are entitled to receive permanent welfare benefits from the state forever, but also that America illegally stole the Southwest USA from Mexico. Hence, a good percentage of them have no loyalty whatsoever to America. Of course, many delusional self-hating leftists like you nurture and encourage this kind of insane attitude as well to feed your own ideological obsessions, which doesn’t help matters.

As the report I cited above demonstrates and as any source out there will show, almost no immigrants to the US today are illiterate. That includes Hispanics

With all due respect, relative to average Americans, illegal Hispanic immigrants are extremely illiterate and unskilled, as the majority of Mexicans and other Latin Americans for economic reasons drop out of school and receive no subsequent training. With respect to legal Hispanic citizens already living in the country, statistics repeatedly show that Hispanics along with Blacks have by far the highest drop out rates, highest teenage pregnancy rates, and highest incarcerations rates in the country, and along with Blacks, Hispanics are the biggest consumers of welfare benefits in the USA. Apparently, the studies you are reading either are trying to cover up the truth or otherwise you are trying to blow smoke up my a$$.

–Continued

ObamaYoMoma

The Literacy Act of 1917 was pushed by anti-immigrant activists in the early 20th century because they thought it would rapidly decrease Italian immigration because most people back then thought Italians were illiterate. Since almost all immigrants to the US at that period were literate, the literacy requirement excluded almost no one. The same is true today.

However, most Hispanic citizens living in America are the descendents of people who didn’t enter America through the front door, but instead through the back door and that were eventually granted immunity.

Not to mention also that the immigration regulations were thoroughly reworked in 1965 by Ted Kennedy and geared away from attracting white compatible Europeans to attracting incompatible people from third world countries instead.

Indeed, no matter how much you try to cover up for Hispanics and Blacks while also attempting to distort reality, you still can’t deny the undeniable that Hispanics along with Blacks have the highest drop out rates and highest teenage pregnancy rates in the country. You also can’t deny the fact either that the prison systems are filled with Hispanics and Blacks, as those two disparate and competing populations make up the vast overwhelming amount of the prison inmate population in the USA. In fact, Hispanic society and Black society both thoroughly hate each other guts, exactly because they are fierce competitors for the public’s dole, and also because they are always competing against each other for victimhood status. However, in that department, the Blacks have them beat by miles. Indeed, it’s not even close.

Alex Nowrasteh

I haven’t responded at all to your point about Muslim immigration. I don’t care about that and I’m not challenging your opinion.

“However, in stark contrast to Walker, I’m not making any inferences, I’m merely restating what has already long been fully documented, as the chronic failures of both the Hispanic and Black communities to assimilate and become contributing and productive members of American society instead of permanent wards of the state are long and well established realities. Hence, your absurd allegation that I’m similarly bigoted to Walker is a product of your own mental incompetence and leftwing biases.”

I did not state you were a bigot. You quoted me clearly and I will copy that quote here: “He was clearly a racist but he made non racial objections that are similar to the objections you've raised. Based on levels of literacy, skills, and education he was right.” You should get off your high horse and stop pretending to be a victim of me calling you a bigot. I did not call you a bigot nor did I imply it. I referred specifically to the non-racial objections made by Walker and how similar they are to your unfounded objections.

“Nevertheless, the fact that most Hispanics and Blacks in America have long been permanent wards of the state for generation after generation is more than an undeniable fact since it has been documented over and over again ad nauseum, and since it is an undeniable fact, it constitutes legitimate criticism and therefore it can’t be bigoted.”

It’s a documented fact about Hispanics being wards of the state, yet you fail to cite any statistics to back up your claim about Hispanics. The largest wards of the state in the US are the elderly on Medicare and Social Security. If immigrants were driven to the US by the desire to get on public benefits, why do they return to their home countries when the economy sucks and why are they attracted to the US when the economy is good?

Citation: Michael Hoefer, Nancy Rytina, & Bryan C. Baker. “Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2010.” Office of Immigration Statistics, Department of Homeland Security. February 2011.

Furthermore, you don’t know anything about the American welfare state or how it operates. The American welfare state is primarily designed to help the elderly, sick, and women. 74% of immigrants are Hispanic. Immigrants are mainly young, healthy, and men. Legal immigrants consume less health care than natives. Undocumented immigrants consume even less than legal immigrants.

I will also replace my citation here for the Pew Hispanic Research Center study that you neglected to read because you were too busy responding to what you wish I had said instead of what I actually said: The high degree of Hispanic assimilation is measured in The Pew Hispanic Research Center's "Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Come of Age in America, Assimilation" December 2009. Cultural and linguistic assimilation is very strong and by the 3rd or 4th generation they are virtually impossible to separate from Americans whose families have been here for even longer periods of time. The Manhattan Institute has also noticed that assimilation trajectories on all measurable characteristics.

Second generation immigrants have wages 4-8% higher than 4th generation or higher natives with the same education, skill level, and age. If that doesn’t speak much for assimilation, nothing does.

“Indeed, if you don’t believe me, then go visit the barrios in East LA, or the streets of Harlem and Watts.”

I use statistics and income data gleamed from millions of people to get a snapshot of a complicated issue like this. Anecdotal evidence is not much help.

Alex Nowrasteh

“Give me a break, PEW is a leftwing think tank, and despite PEW, study after study shows that for generations, not just three or four, the majority of Hispanics immigrants have chronically failed to assimilate into becoming contributing and productive citizens of the USA, since the majority of Hispanics drop out of school either to join street gangs or otherwise because they get knocked up. In fact, their chronic failure closely mirrors that of the competing Black society. However, Hispanic society also has the disadvantage of having to compete with illegal Hispanic immigrants for jobs, which are more than willing to work for slave wages.”

Pew is one of the most respected groups in terms of surveying large populations. If you had a real criticism of the methodology of their survey data, I would like to read it. But since you don’t it is either because you have no data to support your own position, you don’t understand what Pew wrote, you are incapable of understanding statistical and survey methodology, or you didn’t read it. It’s not an either – or problem with you, it’s all of the above.

“Of course, many delusional self-hating leftists like you nurture and encourage this kind of insane attitude as well to feed your own ideological obsessions, which doesn’t help matters.”

You can google my name to see that I am not a Leftist. I am a libertarian who works for the free market Competitive Enterprise Institute. Calling people names is not an adequate substitute for research.http://cei.org/expert/alex-nowrasteh

“With all due respect, relative to average Americans, illegal Hispanic immigrants are extremely illiterate and unskilled, as the majority of Mexicans and other Latin Americans for economic reasons drop out of school and receive no subsequent training. With respect to legal Hispanic citizens already living in the country, statistics repeatedly show that Hispanics along with Blacks have by far the highest drop out rates, highest teenage pregnancy rates, and highest incarcerations rates in the country, and along with Blacks, Hispanics are the biggest consumers of welfare benefits in the USA. Apparently, the studies you are reading either are trying to cover up the truth or otherwise you are trying to blow smoke up my a$$.”

The word “illiterate” means the inability to read. Dropping out of high school does not make one illiterate. I think you need to revisit a dictionary and stop changing definitions of words to suit your political agenda. The vast vast majority of Hispanics and immigrants in general are not illiterate and haven’t been for quite a long time.

“However, most Hispanic citizens living in America are the descendents of people who didn’t enter America through the front door, but instead through the back door and that were eventually granted immunity.”

You’ve not explained how that changes outcomes at all or why it should matter.

“Not to mention also that the immigration regulations were thoroughly reworked in 1965 by Ted Kennedy and geared away from attracting white compatible Europeans to attracting incompatible people from third world countries instead.”

Not true either. You should actually read large section of Title VIII of the US Code as I have. There is nothing in there to discriminate against well skilled white Europeans. By the way, I know you’re not a bigot (I don’t want to hurt your feelings) but poorly worded sentences like that are why many people think that those who hold your opinion are. The 1965 act removed quotas based on country of origin that were designed to prevent Jews, Italians, and other Southern Europeans from coming to the US. That’s why the 1924 Immigration Act used the 1890 census as a base year to replace the 1921 Emergency Quota Act’s use of the 1910 census as a base year.

The H-1B visa program and the employer sponsored greencard programs give an incentive to attract well skilled foreigners. Europeans live in fairly wealthy countries so they don’t benefit from emigrating like they used to. The skilled people in the world coming to the US today come from China and India mostly.

Alex Nowrasteh

“Indeed, no matter how much you try to cover up for Hispanics and Blacks while also attempting to distort reality, you still can’t deny the undeniable that Hispanics along with Blacks have the highest drop out rates and highest teenage pregnancy rates in the country. You also can’t deny the fact either that the prison systems are filled with Hispanics and Blacks, as those two disparate and competing populations make up the vast overwhelming amount of the prison inmate population in the USA. In fact, Hispanic society and Black society both thoroughly hate each other guts, exactly because they are fierce competitors for the public’s dole, and also because they are always competing against each other for victimhood status. However, in that department, the Blacks have them beat by miles. Indeed, it’s not even close.”

I don’t study the black population so I have no comment on your assertions. But the US it at an extreme low point with crime, immigrants commit fewer crimes than native per capita, and the cities with the highest percentages of Hispanics are the most peaceful. Here are the citations:http://reason.com/archives/2009/07/06/the-el-paso…

Crime Rates Continue to Decline, Department of Justice, December 2009.

From Anecdotes to Evidence: Setting the Record Straight on Immigrants and Crime, September 2008.

Debunking the Myth of Immigrant Criminality: Imprisonment Among First – and Second – Generation Young Men. July, 2006. MPI
Muslim immigration is a very small part of American immigration.

http://www.okcteaparty.org Dan

Having spent my first 11 years in California in the 1950s, one thing I noticed when I left California was that no one could tell where I hailed from because of my accentless speech and idioms. Living in Central Los Angeles, as a kid my close friends and schoolmates included middle class Black, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Jewish kids. When I look back, it seems obvious something was working then (assimiIation). Now, I understand that for some time my old LA neighborhood is now called 'Koreatown'.

John

When I first moved to CA from TX in '71 I thought it was the best place in the world. Although there were so many cultures everyone spoke English and the effort was made by just about everyone to work together pretty much. During my time there it altered dramatically. Now many, but not all, of the immigrants that come there are just, flat out angry and hostile. I used to really like it there, but I finally left because of people refusing to learn the language, so many dangerous illegals and the crime that took over. You can't even drive in certain areas if you're not of that cultural group for fear of your life. I worked in the L.A. courts and saw the effect of a run away welfare system and blantantly left leaning city council. (Con't on next comment)

John

(Con't) The workers in the state were castigated for actually doing well and the move to have the ignorant and unskilled who could get a job at McDonalds but refuse to serve you in English to take over. And why should anyone make an effort to learn English when there were so many willing to teach English as a second language by speaking nothing but Spanish to everyone. Now our signs, food products and so many services are in Spanish. Why even make the effort to speak English. And the push by an angry Raza that said the White stole the entire Southwest and they want it back so they can do nothing with it just like their native Mexico. It's very sad because if they wanted to, really wanted to they could make a tremendous contribution to this country, but only if they wanted to.

sedoanman

What puzzles me is why any Hispanic [much less the illegals] would support Mexico's taking over the Southwest. Think about it. Why would a poor Mexican pay a coyote several thousand dollars to risk his life and the lives of his family for the privilege of crossing a burning desert to find work to earn enough feed himself and family, AND THEN support turning the area over to the system he fled in the first place.

http://baersart.com Jane Larson Baer

Thank you for your article on assimilation. Here in Santa Cruz, California we suffer under such political correctness that American youth are at risk. We have illegal immigrant gangsters who try to get Mexican-American young people in their gang (often the sons of illegal immigrants) who, becasue of their youth and the fact that they were born here are relatively immune to prosecution. They gang teaches them to hate whitey and anti-Americanism and they are required to denounce any allegiance to America and only have allegiance to the nation of Mexico to be jumped into the gang (even if their parents were from central america it is a Mexican gang linked ot the Mexican drug cartels) whites or other types of Americans are not allowed in the gang. They blame the Americans they get addicted to their heroin (the town is pro-pot and you can't be negative to a foreigner and some youth are rebellious) but they laugh when they intentionally poison some. Mexican mothers are never sad when American mothers are crying because their sons overdoesed. In this town, only American mothers can try to understand Latino mothers, Latino mothers are never called on to understand American mothers.

OLJingoist

Multiculturalism is a dismal failure. Anywhere anytime.
It disrespects all who came before us and gave their very lives to protect OUR WAY of life, as spelled out in the US CONSTITUTION.
Immigrants from all countries fought died and in all cases formed our very backbone.
They drew together in the common good and defense. They forged (together) the very sinew of AMERICAN STRENGTH.
And now I hang my head and cry for America, as we allow ourselves to decline.

sedoanman

Fortunately, AZ passed a law last year prohibiting the hyping of race in public schools and their textbooks. "There are countries where hyping race and ethnicity has led to slaughters in the streets, but you cannot name a country where it has led to greater harmony.” – Thomas Sowell

P.S. If whites are savages, what does that say about what is happening in Mexico?

Jim_C

It's a banner day at FPM for this liberal. Nothing to disagree (too strongly with!)

Multiculturalism sucks. Recognizing that we welcome all cultures is fine. I don't care if you teach American culture, warts and all: slavery, racism, ethnic cleansing are the dark part of our history. I don't care if the kids color in little worksheets on different immigrant groups.

But you better make sure the emphasis is on teaching from whence our system of government is derived and the values that shaped it, and work to instill that sense of civics. That is the only way to get kids to feel enfranchised.

phillyfanatic

As long as the lemming voters keep electing liberal Dems as a guv, and the State Leg., as well as the Congressional delegation, Ca. will be simply a ward of the federal Govt. It is not just illegals. It is entitlements, welfare, free education for not only illegals but…No tort reform. Crazed enviro laws which put the Delta Smelt over and against farmers in Ca. Dems simply have ruined Ca. and they love it because they can keep Pubs as not empathetic, as profit makers over and against the poor people who walk around Venice!!!

Dennis

DIVERSITY and MULTICULTURALISM…how's that working for all of us living here in the U.S.?

Interesting title. For additional DIVERSITY & POLITICALLY CORRECT questions,
please visit: http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/2011/05/17/p…
and you will gain more perspectives to what obamyomama and Jane Larson Baer – I am NOT IN DISAGREEMENT to
each one's comment – have concerns about…

We cannot stop this destruction…we need to start Euro-American Heritage pressure groups or we are going to be whiped out by the "diversity" legislation and blatantly racist policies of the schools, business, state agencies and law enforcement agencies. EAH groups are also necessary to protect and maintain the memory of EA values such as those codified in the Bill of Rights…Yes, California is a vision of the future of the Republic and it has come to this extreme step in order to survive.

Alex Nowrasteh

There are no facts, no statistics, and no citations for any of the points the author makes in this piece. That is because nothing of what the author writes is supported by the data available. Multiculturalism and diversity are stupid philosophies but not many people pay attention to them, especially immigrants who are too busy working and assimilating to care.

The Pew Hispanic Research Center's "Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Come of Age in America, Assimilation" December 2009 report shows that cultural assimilation is very strong and by the 3rd or 4th generation are virtually impossible to separate from Americans whose families have been here for even longer periods of time.

Joseph Wilder

You can't really quantify assimilation. They're measuring 'indicators'. And then use these indicators to see if "assimilation of the immigrant population would be deemed to have occurred when knowledge of each of these factors provides no information about whether an individual was born in the United States or abroad."

Really? They're trying to quantify glorified guess work? I bet I could make those numbers say all sorts of other things too. As a native to this country, having been denied any and all aid financially from the government at every stratification of my employment/income history, I don't see immigrants as assimilated until they too have to pay for every penny of healthcare and are denied continually every handout I've been denied.

Bettina

"The author" as you so eloquently stated, received his B.A. in Latin from UCLA in 1975, and his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature: Greek, Latin, and English, from UCLA in 1983. Thornton is currently Professor of Classics and Humanities at the California State University in Fresno, California. He is the author of eight books and numerous essays and reviews on Greek culture and civilization and their influence on Western civilization. He also has written on contemporary political and educational issues, as well as lecturing at venues such as the Smithsonian Institute and the Air Force Academy, and appearing on television shows such as The History Channel and ABC’s Politically Incorrect. Professor Thornton's academic research is unimpeachable. If Professor Thornton says the third-world leeches are not assimilating, then they are not assimilating. Period.

Ken

It seems to be this away all over. Excellent read, hits many points I've been trying to articulate to many friends and family. On a personal level, being born and raised in this country, it sometimes feels as a "plain bred, euro descended white" that my interests are completely overlooked, sometimes even disregarded. My father used to tell me that long ago, especially up north around MI and MA, that it used to be a matter of pride to become a citizen and speak the oath or pledge in English, or American, as they viewed it. Sadly, as many above have stated, those days seem to be gone.